Catholic mysticism?

[mariah1993]

Hi, I’m fairly new to the forums (I just registered but I’ve been reading for a few weeks), so if this is the wrong place to post or if I’m doing something wrong forgive me.

I am a Seventh Day Adventist but I am currently looking into converting to Catholicism. SDA’s have a particular distaste for Catholics (they think you worship Mary and idols, which I did too but now realize is completely false) and because of this I did some extra research on Catholics before I even started to seriously consider.

My only problem is when I came upon this article on Christian Answers (a source I think is credible): christiananswers.net/q-eden/mysticism-bennett.html

Basically, the article says Catholic tradition is mixing in Hindu/Buddhist ideas and taking away the personalness (is that a word?) of the Christian God. It has quotes from the Pope and Priests so I’m a little concerned, can anyone help me understand better? This can’t be true right?

 

[SonofMonica]

Hi, I’m fairly new to the forums (I just registered but I’ve been reading for a few weeks), so if this is the wrong place to post or if I’m doing something wrong forgive me.

I am a Seventh Day Adventist but I am currently looking into converting to Catholicism. SDA’s have a particular distaste for Catholics (they think you worship Mary and idols, which I did too but now realize is completely false) and because of this I did some extra research on Catholics before I even started to seriously consider.

My only problem is when I came upon this article on Christian Answers (a source I think is credible): christiananswers.net/q-eden/mysticism-bennett.html

Basically, the article says Catholic tradition is mixing in Hindu/Buddhist ideas and taking away the personalness (is that a word?) of the Christian God. It has quotes from the Pope and Priests so I’m a little concerned, can anyone help me understand better? This can’t be true right?

No, it isn’t true. The entire “article” is a nonsensical mish-mash of random quotes, with ellipses. They are completely devoid of context. It’s nothing but a dishonest diatribe. Catholicism has nothing to do with New Age, or Hindu or Buddhist philosophy or practice. It is true that the document Nostra Aetate (vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html) encourages us to rejoice in the things in other religions that ARE true, to the extent there are any, but it does not encourage us to practice other religions or in any way dilute the truth that is Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

For instance, Buddhists may believe that it is wrong to take innocent human life. Catholics do, too. How can we be against that just because it is in Buddhism? We can celebrate this together and use it as a means of dialogue and understanding. This does not mean we are to practice Buddhism, far from it. If you read the Catechism, you will see that Catholics have the DUTY to work to further the spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The article posted at the link you cited is poppycock and rubbish. You would do well to go straight to the source. All the Catholic teachings are available online. A good place to start is the summary of all our beliefs, the Catechism, which is available at vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm. God bless you!

 

[Zooey]

There are a lot of errors in that Christian Answers article, but they all boil down to what Son Of Monica says: “a mishmash of random quotes”…
One thing I noticed is that it doesn’t really tell you the truth about who the people are quoted…
For example, Richard Foster is not an evangelical, he is a Quaker. Then there are quotes from Buddhists that are used as proof against Catholics…but how is what the Dalai Lama says, proof of anything except his own (Buddhist) opinion?
And I would want to read the words of Catholics from Catholic sources, before I assumed that they were accurate and used in proper context.
I think, too, that we all have to remember that no church is responsible, either, for the random thoughts of any of its members. The fact that the author has found a quotation that ‘sounds like’ what he wants to say, doesn’t make it Catholic doctrine…
I once heard a Free Methodist minister say that the corn crop in Kansas is better or worse depending on the current temperature of hell. I attribute this not to Free Methodism, however; I rather imagine it was the complete mental break he was having at the time. (He ended up in a mental hospital a few weeks after that sermon, & never spoke publicly again…Poor man…But you see what I mean?? ).

 

[FCEGM]

Hi, I’m fairly new to the forums (I just registered but I’ve been reading for a few weeks), so if this is the wrong place to post or if I’m doing something wrong forgive me.

I am a Seventh Day Adventist but I am currently looking into converting to Catholicism. SDA’s have a particular distaste for Catholics (they think you worship Mary and idols, which I did too but now realize is completely false) and because of this I did some extra research on Catholics before I even started to seriously consider.

My only problem is when I came upon this article on Christian Answers (a source I think is credible): christiananswers.net/q-eden/mysticism-bennett.html

Basically, the article says Catholic tradition is mixing in Hindu/Buddhist ideas and taking away the personalness (is that a word?) of the Christian God. It has quotes from the Pope and Priests so I’m a little concerned, can anyone help me understand better? This can’t be true right?

mariah, my recommendation to you is that you actually read the works of Catholic mystics like St. Teresa of Jesus (aka "of Avila) and St. John of the Cross. You will find them absolutely insistent on the centrality of Christ Incarnate and on the intimacy with the Father into which He desires to draw us.

 

[fhansen]

Hi, I’m fairly new to the forums (I just registered but I’ve been reading for a few weeks), so if this is the wrong place to post or if I’m doing something wrong forgive me.

I am a Seventh Day Adventist but I am currently looking into converting to Catholicism. SDA’s have a particular distaste for Catholics (they think you worship Mary and idols, which I did too but now realize is completely false) and because of this I did some extra research on Catholics before I even started to seriously consider.

My only problem is when I came upon this article on Christian Answers (a source I think is credible): christiananswers.net/q-eden/mysticism-bennett.html

Basically, the article says Catholic tradition is mixing in Hindu/Buddhist ideas and taking away the personalness (is that a word?) of the Christian God. It has quotes from the Pope and Priests so I’m a little concerned, can anyone help me understand better? This can’t be true right?

No, no, NO! Sorry. But Catholic mysticism-I never really liked that word as it does sound like new-age or eastern stuff-is about directly experiencing God in some way, because He elects to orchestrate the experience. Some Catholics may practice some other kind of nonsense that they’ve learned from other sources but then it’s simply not the real thing.

We need to realize that our faith is mostly knowledge about God, rather than the experience of God, and that God, ultimately, is an experience, like any other in that sense, and we’ll know Him directly in the next life, meeting Him “face to face” as it were. But He can give tastes of that vision now, here on earth, for His purposes.

 

[Tomster]

Hi, I’m fairly new to the forums (I just registered but I’ve been reading for a few weeks), so if this is the wrong place to post or if I’m doing something wrong forgive me.

I am a Seventh Day Adventist but I am currently looking into converting to Catholicism. SDA’s have a particular distaste for Catholics (they think you worship Mary and idols, which I did too but now realize is completely false) and because of this I did some extra research on Catholics before I even started to seriously consider.

My only problem is when I came upon this article on Christian Answers (a source I think is credible): christiananswers.net/q-eden/mysticism-bennett.html

Basically, the article says Catholic tradition is mixing in Hindu/Buddhist ideas and taking away the personalness (is that a word?) of the Christian God. It has quotes from the Pope and Priests so I’m a little concerned, can anyone help me understand better? This can’t be true right?

Actually, according to Catholic teaching, mysticism is primarily an intense, supernatural life and, secondarily, a manifestation of extraordinary psychic phenomena, which must be harmony with the holiness and the moral equilibrium of the mystic.

 

[Zooey]

No, no, NO! Sorry. But Catholic mysticism-I never really liked that word as it does sound like new-age or eastern stuff-is about directly experiencing God in some way, because* He elects* to orchestrate the experience. Some Catholics may practice some other kind of nonsense that they’ve learned from other sources but then it’s simply not the real thing.

**We need to realize that our faith is mostly knowledge *about ***God, rather than the experience of God, and that God, ultimately, is an experience, like any other in that sense, and we’ll know Him directly in the next life, meeting Him “face to face” as it were. But He can give tastes of that vision now, here on earth, for His purposes.

Yes, I think that the word is being used in two entirely different ways.
That happens, I believe, more than any of us realize.